Volleyball to Host Worcester in MASCAC Championship on Saturday

WESTFIELD, Mass. – The second-seeded Westfield State University women's volleyball team will host fourth-seeded Worcester State University in the Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic Conference championship game tomorrow at noon from the Woodward Center in Westfield, Mass.

After finishing the conference regular season at 6-1 with a share of the MASCAC regular season title, the Owls seek their sixth conference championship in program history. The Lancers, who won the regular season title and then fell in the league championship game last season, are in search of their third championship in the last five seasons.

The Owls advanced to the conference final after defeating third-seeded MCLA in straight sets with Shawna Crowley (Billerica, Mass.) and Julia Bartiet (Cheshire, Conn.) leading Westfield with ten kills apiece.

After falling in the regular season finale in five sets to Framingham State, the Lancers avenged their loss by upsetting the top-seeded Rams in the other conference semifinal, going the distance and winning in a five-set thriller. Outside hitter Camryn Burgio (Quincy, Mass.) paced Worcester with a team-high 14 kills.

The two teams met earlier in the season for the conference opener where the Owls came out victorious with a four-set victory. In that matchup, senior Ashley Crowley (Billerica, Mass.) collected a game-high 15 kills while first-year Cassidy D'Esposito (Medford, Mass.) led the Lancers with ten kills.

Westfield enters into the finals tilt having won six of their last seven games. Worcester has strung together a hot streak of their own to reach the championship, picking up three wins in their last four contests.

The winner of tomorrow's game will receive the league's automatic qualifying bid into the NCAA Tournament and will find out their opponent and location of the match through the NCAA Selection Show airing on Monday at 1:00 P.M.